Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus

Abe's Exoddus is a two-dimensional platform game, with many of its elements taken from the previous title, Abe's Oddysee. The game is split into screens; when the player moves into the edge of the screen, the environment is replaced, just like in the previous title. Most screens include various puzzles that must be solved through the use of Abe's unique abilities: "GameSpeak", possession, controlling mine cars, activation or deactivation of mines or levers, and rocks, grenades, or bones that can be picked up and used for different purposes. Normal abilities include creeping, walking, running, rolling, hoisting, jumping, and crouching, all of which have specific application and make up a necessary arsenal of moves.

The game features no user interface or heads-up display. Information is conveyed to the player through instructive screens that can be activated by the player character, or through scrolling messages in the background. Characters do not have hit points; instead, being attacked (such as being shot or mauled) or touching a hazard (such as a bone drill or an exploding mine) or falling either from high places or into a pit generally causes instant death. However, the player has unlimited lives, and upon death will re-spawn at the last checkpoint they reached. Abe's Exoddus includes an option to quick save which allows the player to designate their own checkpoints, a feature which was not present in Abe's Oddysee due to programming conflicts and which attracted criticism of that title.

The game opens with the Mudokons celebrating the destruction of RuptureFarms and their rescue by former slave-turned-hero Abe. However, the celebrations cause Abe to fall from a stage and lose consciousness. While unconscious, he receives a vision from three Mudokon spirits, who inform him that the Glukkons are using Mudokon slaves to exhume the bones of their dead at the Necrum, the ancient burial grounds of the Mudokons. Upon awakening, Abe leaves for Necrum with a group of fellow Mudokons to uncover what the Glukkons are up to, and quickly discover the burial grounds have been turned into mines, with many Mudokons blinded to prevent them knowing what they are extracting.

After initially being separated from his friends, Abe reunites with them at a vending machine that dispenses a new drink called Soulstorm Brew. Despite his protest, his friends -who are desperate to quench their thirst- swiftly begin drinking every bottle of Brew from the vendo and fall sick from doing so. Abe quickly discovers that the Brew is made from the bones of the Mudokons, and proceeds to sabotage the mines. In order to heal his sick friends, he soon finds himself forced to locate the burial vaults of Necrum and liberate its trapped Mudokon spirits. In doing so, Abe is granted the power of healing by the three spirits who contacted him, allowing him to heal his sick friends, who in turn help him to head for the FeeCo Depot - a large shipment and transportation hub.

Following the overwhelming success of Abe's Oddysee, GT Interactive, the publishers of Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus, pushed for a sequel to be made by Christmas 1998. In order to meet this deadline, Abe's Exoddus was made to run on the same game engine as Abe's Oddysee, and was completed in nine months. Lorne Lanning, the director of both games, stated that "we killed ourselves getting Abe's Exoddus done in nine months. It was brutal."

When Abe's Oddysee was released, developer Oddworld Inhabitants monitored chat groups and forums and noticed frequent complaints about the difficulty, particularly the save feature and the trial-and-error design of some puzzles. They attempted to address these complaints in Abe's Exoddus.

In January 1999, the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland presented the PlayStation version of Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus with a "Gold" award, indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Abe's Exoddus received mostly positive reviews upon its release. Edge praised Abe's range of abilities because they can be used in "lateral [and] unrelated" ways, but criticized the general gameplay for being similar to its predecessor. In contrast, GameSpot stated, "though the Exoddus gameplay is essentially more of the same, it's more of a good thing". PC Zone praised the game's cutscenes, stating that "the cut-scenes are brilliantly created (especially in the sound department)". IGN gave particular praise to the game's graphics: "The 3D characters are better looking than the previous iteration, and more animated backgrounds and moving parts liven up the slightly old formula".